Circuit interrupting device



Nn. 6||,206. Patented Sept. 20, |898. D.. IcF. MOORE.

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f B @k 7' .Etmriuj UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

DANIEL MCFARLAN MOORE, OF NEIVARK, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE MOORE ELECTRICAL COMPANY, OE NEV YORK, N. Y.

CIRCUIT-INTERRUPTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,206, dated September 20, 189.8.

Application filed .Iuly 3, 1897x Serial No. 643,337. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL MCEARLAN MOORE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Circuit-lnterrupting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric-circuit breaking or controlling devices or appliances,

1o and particularly to such devices designed for use in the lighting systems which form the subject of patents already granted to me and of applications for patents now pending.

One object of the invention is the construction of a circuit-interrupter in amanner such that it will have a perfectly smooth and hard contact-surface.

Another object is the construction of such a device from material that has a minimum zo amount of occluded gases and which therefore may be used in an exhausted receiver without impairing the vacuum.

With these objects in view the invention consists in a metallic body or base having the 2 5 spaces between the conducting portion thereof iilled with a vitreous substance devoid of occluded gases.

The invention further consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of 3o parts, substantially as hereinafterdescribed.

In the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, Figure l represents in end view a cylinder of metal bored to receive the pieces of insulation. Fig. 2

represents one of the pieces of insulation in longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is an end view of the completed break-wheel, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of said completed Wheel. Fig. 5 is a modiiication.

4o It has heretofore been a difficult matter to provide a non-conducting filling between the contact-surfaces of circuit-interrupting devices, and particularly in rapidly-rotating b1eak-wheels,which would Wear evenly with the metallic portion of the device or wheel. I have also experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining a filling for this purpose which when operated in a vacuum would not throw out gas and so break down the vacuum. Vit- 5o reous material, such as glass or porcelain, I have found well adapted to overcome the above objections. To secure such material in placein a Wheel, for example-it has been found best to bore a circle of holes longitudinally in a cylinder of metal, by preference steel or some metal presenting the same resistance to wear as the insulation, and after filling these holes with plugs of insulation to grind out or turn down the plugged cylinder and expose the insulation. 6o

A represents such cylinder bored as at B, and C represents the plugs of vitreous material cut to iit the holes B. These holes and plugs are preferably given a little taper or draw, so that the plugs may be driven to a rm seat. This taper is very slight, about one-thousandth of an inch to the inch being suicient. This taper is indicated in Fig. 2, the lines a: being parallel and just touched by the edges of the plug at the left-hand end, while the edges 7o at the right-hand end are at a slight distance from said lines. After the plugs C are driven into place their ends are ground off iiush with the ends of the cylinder, and plates D are secured to the ends of the cylinder and engage the ends of the plugs sufficiently to hold them securely in place. After the plugs are iirmly secured in place the cylinder and plugs are always ground down nearly to the axes of the plugs, said cutting being stopped on a 8o chord of the holes in the cylinder sufficiently less than their diameter to prevent the plugs from being thrown out in the rapid rotation of the Wheel. In this way the entire length of the plugs is exposed and the entire surface S5 of the Wheel may be utilized. In Fig. 5 is represented the adaptation of this mode of construction to circuit-interrupters of other forms-for instance, Where the interruptingsurface is straight and stationary or adapted 9o to reciprocate. Though the plugs are preferably cylindrical because of ease in construction, they may be trapezoidal in cross-section, as indicated at C.

Other conducting materials for the cylinders and kinds of vitreous plugs aside from those mentioned may be used and the forms of both varied from those shown without de parting from my invention.

As will be obvious, my invention permits Ioo the use of a brittle insulation in making cir cuit breaking or controlling appliances by driving the one material into holes in the other and then cutting away the base to expose the driven plugs, because the insulation is firmly supported by the stronger metal, which would not be the case if the attempt were made to use plugs of metal driven into the insulation.

I am aware that it is not new to secure sections of ordinary insulating material, such as liber or vulcanite, by dovetail connection within the surface of a break-wheel and also that it is not new to insert metallic cylinders in apertures near the periphery of non-conducting cylinders and then grind or turn the cylinder or plug down to such a diameter as will expose the desired extent of each plug, and therefore I do not include these constructions in the terms of my claims.

What I claim as my invention isl. A break-wheel of metal lled in between the contact-surfaces with vitreous insulating material.

2. In a break-Wheel, a cylinder of metal provided with a circle of holes and plugs of insulating material tted to said holes, and the cylinder and plugs ground down to expose the desired extent of the plugs.

3. A break-wheel consisting of a metallic cylinder having plugs of glass or porcelain seated between the contact-surfaces longitudinally of the cylinder.

4. A break-wheel consisting of a metallic cylinder having slightly tapered vitreous plugs driven into holes formed longitudinally of the cylinder, and plates secured to the ends of the cylinder and lapping onto the ends of the plugs.

5. For usein avacuous receptacle exhausted to the highest possible degree, a break-wheel of metal having vitreous material filled in between the contact-surfaces, said wheel being mounted to rotate within said receptacle.

6. In a circuit breaker or controller, a metallic or conducting body or base having holes or channels in-which are seated plugs of vitreous insulating material tted to said holes, the metal body being cut away by grinding or otherwise to expose the plug of insulation, as and for the purpose described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 17th day of April, A. l). 1897.

DANIEL MCFARLAN MOORE.

Witnesses:

WM. H. CAPEL, C. L. BELCHER. 

